New house w pool newb

DrunknIrish · May 28, 2016

OK house came with a 25' Above ground pool, not sure if its vinyl or fiberglass. Found the pump and filter with two clean filter cartridges(big round cylinder things) in the shed. Its a Pentair Pump and filter, it says DE100 is the model on the filter. The pool had been sitting for probably two years and the cover had sagged and was ripped. Wrestled the cover off and got a lot of the leaves out not sure how much may be left in there. Got the pump assembled correctly and got it turned on and working. Added 12 pounds of DE because it said that a DE100 filter had 100sq ft and that needed 12 1lb coffee cans of DE. The pump was running at 20 PSI after about three hours the flow reduced and it was running at 24 PSI. I went to the pool store, Leslie, and they said that 20 PSI is too high it should be running at 12-13. I bought more DE and came back home. I took that filter out(heavy) and put in the second clean one and that running right now. Started at 20 PSI and is now starting to slowly climb.

Is it correct that it should only be at 12 -13 and if so what may be the problem? Also do I really need to put 12 pounds of DE everytime I clean the filter which is about every 3 hours right now?

I have a test kit coming from Amazon and I'll update this thread when it gets here.

pooldv · May 28, 2016

Welcome to TFP!

It is a vinyl liner pool. I don't have a DE filter, but I am not sure that 12 lbs of DE is equal to 12 1lb coffee cans. If it is too much it will increase your filter pressure. There is no "normal" pressure, every pool is different.

DrunknIrish · May 29, 2016

OK I ordered a Taylor K-2006 kit yesterday and it arrived today(I love Amazon Prime). I did all the tests and here are the results:

Free and Combined Chlorine Test never turned pink on either test so I'm guessing I don't have any chlorine in the pool
pH test - Off the chart yellow(acid) Took 13 drops of base demand to get it where it should be. 13 drops is also off the chart that tells you what to do to fix it it only goes up to 10.
Total Alkalinity test didn't turn green after 5 drops of the indicator it was pink
Calcium Hardness Test It took 6 drops of hardness reagent to get it to turn blue. 60ppm
Cyanuric Acid Test - it was just over 100 so 100+ ppm
I didn't do the Sodium Chloride test because the kit didnt come with the stuff you need I guess I have to get that separately.

I'm guessing I have a dangerous pool and its going to take a lot to get it in shape. Where do I start?

DrunknIrish · May 29, 2016

OK been reading up and the CYA level over 100 means I have to drain about 50% of the water and replace it before I do anything else I'm also reading that your not supposed to drain an above ground vinyl pool. I'm not planning on draining it the whole way just 50% is that OK to do?

pooldv · May 30, 2016

It is fine to drain a vinyl pool as long you leave a foot of water in the shallow end to hold the liner in place so it doesn't shift or shrink.

DrunknIrish · Jun 1, 2016

OK drained the pool to just under 2ft. and refilled it. Just tested the CYA and it is now at 40 (yay). Next I tested the pH and it was below 7.0 and it took three drops of the base reagent to get it to 7.5. Last I tested the TA and it was at 30. So reading the SLAM docs I have to fix the pH before shocking it. I don't have the little book here with me that says what I have to add to get the pH up to normal. Since I have to raise the TA up I can use Baking soda that I have right now to raise both, right?

pooldv · Jun 1, 2016

You need this handy pool chemical guide, Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals

Raise PH to 7.2 and TA to 60.

DrunknIrish · Jun 2, 2016

Okay pH at 7.5, TA at 70 and CYA at 37. Plugged that into the Pool Math calculator and poured the amount of bleach it told me to and going to let it percolate for an hour before testing the chlorine levels. OK I'm sitting at 22ppm FC and between 1 - 1.5 CC. My target shock value based on CYA is 18 but its OK if I'm over it right? Since I have a vinyl liner I don't have to worry about CH or is that a myth I read somewhere?

Oh and thanks this site makes it pretty easy to do this

pooldv · Jun 3, 2016

Nice work so far! It is OK to be a little over on FC, but it does waste chlorine a bit because the higher it gets above shock level the faster the burn rate is. CH does not matter in a vinyl pool as long as it is below 500 or so. It definitely does not matter for a SLAM.